You�re never quite sure what to expect from White Youth, a team that at the end of last year won the Yau Yee Cup, but this year have started badly with their first win only coming last week. The German�s, however, had no points so whether White Youth were good, bad or indifferent really didn�t matter.
One face was conspicuous by it�s absence from the opposing team, and it can only be assumed that he shat his pants the night before. Not unlike a certain midfielder, who got ahead of the crowd by filling his breeks (possibly) midweek.
The German�s were pretty fired up for this game, with a lot of constructive talk and work before the game on how to solve the goal scoring problem, the main contributor being Andy Batchelor.
It may just be coincidence, but all those �lay-off to striker & shoot� balls practiced before the game resulted in an early goal for the German�s, when a three-way move between Moses, Nick Park and Will resulted in the latter firing the ball under the goalkeeper and into the net from a tight angle.
This was only the second goal the German�s have scored in the league this year, and Will�s joy at scoring it was understandable. It was also the first time the German�s have been in the lead in a game since last season.
White Youth came back at the German�s after their early set-back and came close on two occasions just after, with one long range shot narrowly going over the crossbar, while a cross ball from the right was nearly headed with pin-point precision into the German goals top left-hand corner. Unfortunately the head belonged to Mark Richardson. Fortunately it went just wide.
It has to be said that Andy Davison and Andy Dixon on the left were not having their best games, with their passing going astray and mainly to the opposition. And a through ball from the left resulted in White Youth �goal� which their striker, after rounding the keeper, swept into the net. Luckily it was ruled off-side.
Andy Batchelor was doing a ton of work up front, but after running himself into the ground he had to be taken off before half-time with Gary replacing him for his first game for the German�s.
White Youth had another chance before the half-time whistle but their strikers powerful header was too close to Stephen, who turned it round the post.
The second half saw Rudy come on to strengthen the defence and play at right-back. Before the game Rudy let it be known that his preferred position is �libero� which may be a bit difficult to accommodate in the present German set-up.
White Youth pressed from the start and for the first 20 minutes pinned the German�s back in their defence, but despite having several shots were constantly let down by their wayward finishing. Their best chances being a header from 6 yards which Stephen turned over the bar, and a cross which would have resulted in a probable goal if Gary had not got in a late header.
The German�s attacks were all coming from breakaways and Simon should have scored at least once when he was prevented from close range by the White Youth goalkeeper.
The long running saga of �Stephen screw-ups� came to an end in this game, but only with a bit of luck, as a cross ball from the left was completely missed by Stephen at the back post. The striker�s header only found the side netting.
As the game came to an end White Youth got a free-kick just outside the box. The resultant shot was curled over the wall and was heading to the right hand post for a goal until the keeper covered the distance and parried it around the post. A good save, but I probably left far too much space for the striker to aim for.
And as the game came to an end Nick Park sent a lob over the goalkeeper, and what looked like into and through the net for a goal. Everyone celebrated but the referee saw it differently, the ball, in his view, instead going over the bar.
It was not entirely bad news as the final whistle was then blown and the German�s had won their first game of the season.
A good performance and the team really earned the result, with good attitude and commitment throughout.
However, while we created more chances than before, we were not as good as we had been the previous week against Club Albion. Next week is against our old friends Squadron, and in that game we�ll have to be even better than any game gone before to get the result.